We prove that for simple complex finite dimensional
Lie algebras, affine Kac-Moody Lie algebras, the
Virasoro algebra and the Heisenberg-Virasoro algebra,
simple highest weight modules are characterized
by the property that all positive root elements
act on these modules locally nilpotently. We
also show that this is not the case for higher rank
Virasoro and for Heisenberg algebras.